The present invention relates to a process of making a sculpture and especially to a process which preforms a metal shape and electrolytically accretes the shape in an electrolytic cell.
In the past, it has been common to provite a number of processes for creating artworks and in the case of sculpture small models have been formed of plaster or other easily worked materials which may be a smaller model of the sculpture being produced. It has also been common to make full size models with plaster or other easily formable materials which are then used to make molds and then to mold the sculpture in the mold made from the original pattern. The present invention is directed towards a sculpture process which makes a full size plaster model for shaping and forming a heavy metal wire cloth and which is also used to build a heavy metal frame for attaching the wire cloth to produce a skelenton structure of what will be the finished sculpture. Electrolysis has been used to accrete materials onto the skeletal structure to form the finished sculpture which is then polished or finished as desired.
It has also been common in the past to use electrolysis for a wide variety of techniques especially in the fine coating of metals in which a direct current is used in an electrolytic cell having an anode electrode and cathode electrode placed in an electrolyte solution placed in the cell container. The application of a voltage will coat the cathode. The process is used in the separation of metals and materials as well as fine coating of metals and a wide variety of industrial processes. One process which has been described in the prior art may be seen in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,684 to Hilbertz shows an accretion coating and mineralization of materials for the protection against biodegradation and uses a direct electrical current between electrodes in seawater to precipitate materials onto the cathode to provide a mineral coating on the structure made of a fibrous material. The process is used in connection with marine structures which are being reinforcei as more clearly set forth in the Hilbertz U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,605 for the repair of reinforced concrete structures by mineral accretion. A metal reinforcement mated cathode in an underwater structure, such as a piling, is connected to a negative terminal of a suitable DC power supply and one or more anodes are disposed in close proximity to the structure for a sufficient period of time to accrete cracks in fissures or voids in the concrete body of the structure. The process of the these two patents can also be seen in an article in Marine Technology Society Journal, Volume 17, No. 4, copyrighted in 1984 entitled "The Properties of Electrodeposited Minerals in Seawater" and in an article in the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, Volume OE-4, Number 3, dated July 1979 written by the patentee on the two above patents. This article on Electro-deposition of Minerals in Seawater: Experiments and Applications, discusses establishing a direct electrical current between electrodes and an electrolyte like seawater to precipitate calcium carbonates, magnesium hydroxides, and hydrogen at the cathode while the anode produces oxygen and chlorine. The article deals with experiments made by the author which demonstrate in part the feasibility of using the electrodeposited minerals and building materials for a wide variety of purposes including the construction of artificial reefs.
The present invention deals with the method of making an artwork or sculpture which forms a full size plaster model of the ultimate sculpture with a plaster or other workable material, then using the model to make a metal frame and the forming of a heavy wire cloth shaped directly onto the plaster model. The wire cloth is then attached to the frame and the entire skeletal metal structure is used as a cathode in an electrolyte solution adjacent one or more anodes for accreting materials thereon to form an artwork which may then be polished and worked into the final sculpture.